Samara Metro and Tram Map

whiters

Posted 30 May 2012 - 03:44 PM

whiters

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Hello everybody!

This is proposed map of rapid rail transit in Samara (Russia) for subway car (size A4). I would like to see your opinion and constructive criticism. Should I make any corrections in english text of map legend and translate names of tram stops? Thank you!

This is proposed map of rapid rail transit in Samara (Russia) for subway car (size A4). I would like to see your opinion and constructive criticism. Should I make any corrections in english text of map legend and translate names of tram stops? Thank you!

Hello Andrew,

I like the clean simple design. It is pretty easy to read.

I was a little confused on your use of arrows. It is not obvious on the Metro line that the arrows represent the exit direction. I though it told me which direction the metro traveled.

You have used arrows on the Tram line, and I still haven't figured them out. What do they represent?

What does the text/number mean when it is not knocked-out (or in a block).

Just from a design style, I would like to see all the text in the legend on that white background. You've got about 3/4 characters hanging over.

Thanks for sharing,kru

"Ah, to see the world with the eyes of the gods is geography--to know cities and tribes, mountains and rivers, earth and sea, this is our gift."Strabo 22AD

Dennis McClendon

Posted 31 May 2012 - 12:51 PM

Dennis McClendon

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This is one of the most difficult design problems in cartography. It's almost impossible for the user to figure out which tram goes where unless he does a treasure hunt from number group to number group. A couple of thoughts:

I find curved corners to be an aid in following tram and bus routes. There are junctions on this map where it would clarify that all tram lines turn the same way, for instance.

Sometimes it's useful to selectively separate routes onto their own line. For instance, if a route that's most east-west uses a north-south street for only 500m, give it its own line so you can easily see it converge and then diverge. Check the examples on my downtown Chicago bus map.

You could put the colors in a little hierarchy to help explain them and so the casual user could ignore certain routes. Keep full-time routes and route numbers in dark blue, but put weekday only in a medium blue and rush hour only in a blue-green. A street served only by rush-hour routes would then get a blue-green line, while most of the streets will have a dark blue line that "wins."

Gray is one way to separate the English from the Russian text, but I wonder if a spring-green would work a little better. Whatever you choose, be sure to check that it's readable under the local streetlights at night.

Just cheat a little bit with the north bank of the Volga to keep the legend text from hanging into the water. No one is using this map to navigate the waterway.

whiters

Posted 31 May 2012 - 03:08 PM

Dennis, your advices are priceless I took a lot of them. The rest I'll take into account for the future for my next large scaled map of entire Samara public transit network.

Here's the result (but it have to be approved by customer )

I got a question... Should I translate the Russian names of tram stops (for example, "Chapaevskaya ulitsa") into English ("Chapaevskaya street") or just leave transliteration like it sounds in Russian? In this case "ulitsa" means "street".

Dennis McClendon

Posted 01 June 2012 - 12:46 PM

Dennis McClendon

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No, don't translate. The Cyrillic matches what it says on the tram stop sign, and the English transliteration helps the non-Cyrillic reader figure out what's he's hearing said by locals or on the tram announcements. Any traveler brave enough to take a tram in Russia will have already figured out the words for street, taxi, how much, thank you, and beer.

whiters

Posted 01 June 2012 - 01:33 PM

whiters

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No, don't translate. The Cyrillic matches what it says on the tram stop sign, and the English transliteration helps the non-Cyrillic reader figure out what's he's hearing said by locals or on the tram announcements. Any traveler brave enough to take a tram in Russia will have already figured out the words for street, taxi, how much, thank you, and beer.

cyl_n

Posted 26 June 2012 - 04:40 AM

cyl_n

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Am I too late? I like the design, its nice and neat and clean. It is a bit difficult to see what direction the trams are going though. Just one thought, is it colour blind accessible? I had to change a bunch of maps for the web to meet colour blind accessibility and for a tram network it would probably be more important.